Little fire ants are causing big problems across Oahu

By Kristen Consillio

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    OAHU (KITV) — Arborist Carol Kwan knows firsthand that little fire ants can cause big trouble.

She was attacked by the tiny insects at least three times over the past year.

“In an area about the size of a quarter I had like 10 bites,” said the owner of Carol Kwan Consulting. “You get hit by a lot of them all at once.”

One of the worst incidents happened as she was measuring this guava tree.

“I hit some of these low branches and I got hit by lots of stings on the back of my neck, and then some fell down my shirt and I got stung further down also,” she said. “And I felt like a ripple through my whole body.”

The stings left painful welts that didn’t go away for two to three weeks.

“It was horrible,” Kwan said. “It was horrible.”

The copper-colored insects are about as thick as a penny. They nest in trees and in shrubs on the ground. They’re also a threat to pets.

“Pets that spend anytime outdoors in these infested areas end up getting stung in their eyes. And it gets infected and it becomes an issue with their sight,” said Erin Bishop, Oahu Invasive Species Committee. “It causes blindness that’s irreversible and it’s extremely painful as well.”

The hard-to-detect ants also prey on small nesting birds and other insects.

“This is an issue for our forested birds who are already endangered,” she said. “So they’ll eat those birds in the nest, but they’re also a threat to ground nesting birds as well.”

There are 30 active little fire ant infestations across Oahu.

“They will go into your house and it’s just miserable, constantly being stung by ants,” Kwan said. “It’s like there’s nowhere is safe.”

If you find one, you should report it to the statewide pest hotline at 808-643-PEST, or learn how t survey for the ants at this link.

To find out if you have little fire ants, put peanut butter out on a stick for about an hour and once the ants are collected, freeze them overnight and mail them to the Oahu Invasive Species Committee for testing.

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